5 countries that are the top exporters of footballers

Football, the beautiful game, doesn't have a border and the game has ruled the roost since the modern game was introduced by British expatriates to the rest of the world in the late 19th century. Over the years, Football has been a vital part of the cross-border trade.

Countries let their players play in foreign leagues in order to get the experience and exposure, which, in turn, makes the national team strong enough to fight for international glories. Apart from that, Export of professional footballers brings much needed foreign exchange to the respective country boosting the overall economy.

Here, we will look into top 5 countries that are top exporters of professional footballers.This report has been compiled after scrutinizing 137 leagues of 93 countries.

#5 England

Enter — Playing for Hamburger SV, English superstar Kevin Keegan was named European Footballer of the Year in 1978 and 1979, won the Bundesliga title in 1978–79, and reached the European Cup final in 1980.

Widely credited as having formulated the laws of the modern game, England was the first country to have world's first club, first knockout competition (FA Cup), and the first national league.

Despite having an outstanding league system, 451 English players ply their trade in foreign clubs, thanks to ruthless competition to get into the first teams in EPL and Championship clubs. While 79 percent of those players are playing in clubs of UEFA countries, 57 percent ply their trade in Wales and Scotland, remaining in Great Britain.

In addition to that, a big chunk of English footballers love to play in the US as they find similarity in language and culture. As a matter of fact, US is the 3rd most preferred destination for English footballers after Wales and Scotland.

English players also fancy playing for two Spanish giants; Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Whenever the opportunity arises to represent them, English players have grabbed the opportunity with open arms.